Parks and Recreation (2009 - 2015 ) is a TV comedy based around the Parks and Rec department of a local government. The show focuses on the extremely passionate deputy director, Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), and the larger than life cast of characters and the struggles they face. The show ran for seven seasons under CBS ending its run in January of 2015.
Parks and Recreation started its run as another mockumentary - very akin to The Office - but after its first season, started to drift away from that format. At the beginning, even the characters fit similar archetypes to characters from The Office and adopted many different techniques to create the feel of a documentary, but as the show gained its own identity, many of these techniques started to disappear.
The show tended to only use the mockumentary format when it was necessary, for example, talking heads were commonly used to elaborate on jokes or give a further insight into the character's personality but the camera operators and crew weren't treated like they were a character in the show. There would still be moments where characters would look into the camera in a state of confusion (particularly by Ben) but other than that it wasn't really acknowledged.
This also allowed freedom to get more intimate with the characters. For example when Leslie and Ben share their first kiss, this is allowed to be shot in a close up to allow us to connect with the characters' emotions better. In other mockumentaries this may have been shot from within a bush or behind cover to make the audience feel like they shouldn't be watching or that the conversation is private.
As a comparison, here is a section from the shows earlier seasons compared to its later seasons:
- Season 2, Episode 9, The Camel
- Season 6, Episode 1, London: Part 1
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